2 Kings 5

I've been reading (pretty slowly) through 2 Kings... and have been loving what God's been teaching me. Lately I've been thinking about selfishness and greed in my life - and was challenged by these verses:

(v. 20) "I will run after him and get something from him" - Elisha's servant , Gehazi, ran after Naaman to get some of the sweet goods that Elisha refused to take in payment for healing his leprosy. Immediately I saw his selfish, greedy attitude. Convciting. Man, what am I running after these days? What am I selfishly seeking? Where is greed popping it's ugly little head up in my life?

It's a constant battle to make Phillipians 2:3 true in my life: learning how to see others as more significant than myself. My pastor has been talking a lot of ministry (at least on the podcasts I've been listening to) and what it looks like to minister to others. I want that to be true of me: to use my life to bless. to edify. to give Christ. to give of myself. to seek the gain of others.

(vs. 25) "your servant went nowhere" - Gahazi's reply to Elisha's questioning of his whereabouts. This is exactly where I'll go with greed. In seeking my own gain: nowhere.

May we continue to pursue the things close to His heart and learn to truly lay down our lives for others.

blessings galore!!

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gilgal

Gilgal. Literally it's the place where the Israelites camped after they crossed the Jordan (Joshua 4). Right now it's a little wicker basket on our upstairs desk filled with memories of what God's done these past months that we'll read as a team tomorrow at our weekly Sunday afternoon meeting. It's an activity we decided to keep doing after our Midyear with Joe and Allison. (I've still got to write a few more...) So when I hear Gilgal, I think: place of rememberance. It signified us looking back on the first half of our STINT year, and now - the past months of ministry.

About a week ago I was reading in 2 Kings 4, and one of the verses (38) starts off, "Elisha came again to Gilgal when there was a famine in the land." That Elisha - he knew what was up. He knew the Lord's faithfulness. Where Israel had been and how God had worked. And he expected him to work; to give them food in the midst of famine.

And I was suddenly so aware that I need to return to Gilgal; to be in a place of recognizing the Lord. Who he is, what he's done; and have faith - trusting Him to continue to work. And to fill me. I've been feeling pretty empty lately. It's hard to walk through those kinds of valleys, but at the same time I'm thankful that I'm forced to be dependent on the Lord to fill me. For Him to be the only thing I have to offer. How many times God will have to bring this to light before I live it out, I have no clue. Probably a lifetime. But with about 2 monhts of ministry left - we're all fighting indifference and complacency in ministry.

And after just one week on campus - man, has the Lord been working! Through our first (quite successful!) weekly meeting on Tuesday, Family Life seminars on healthy relationships, English club, new students coming to bible study, and our first Student Leader meeting/dinner last night - we can truly see this movement taking shape. It's totally in the Lord's hands, and we're continually on our knees asking Him to work through us. And we definitely won't stop.

I'm excited for tomorrow - to remember together all that God's been doing. And to look ahead to the coming weeks, with renewed joy, energy, excitement, and faith for what He's got planned!

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Lord it belongs not to my care
whether I die or live;
To love and serve thee is my share,
And this Thy grace must give.
If life be long, I will be glad,
That I may long obey;
If short - then why should I be sad
To soar to endless day.

"Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." Philippians 3:8

Oh that I would know the Lord enough to make my losses, crosses, what ifs, should haves, could be's so not worth it, b/c He is all I want.

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